Not Even Death Will Keep Me Down
by Renchard19
Summary: Sasuke defeats Naruto at the Valley of the End and tosses his body down river. However, some sentient zombies and a former terrorist have other plans for a certain blonde jinchuriki... Possibly god-like Naruto. First Fic!
1. Chapter 1: A Second Chance

**Not Even Death Will Keep Me Down**

Author's Note: After reading Naruto fanfiction for a few months, I thought I'd take a crack at it. So far, I've only seen one story with this crossover, and I thought it would be an interesting start. Please note, this is my first fic, so any constructive criticism would be appreciated. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise or Sonny. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto whilst Sonny belongs to Jakrin. If you don't know what Sonny is, check out . It's a fun game, especially the second one.

"I'm dead?" – Person speaking

'Why does he look like that?' – Person thinking

"**Shut up while I think" – Demon speaking**

'**Soon, his power will be mine' – Demon thinking**

Retrograde – Jutsu/technique

_Flashback_ – Flashback

Chapter 1: I'm dead, yet…Not dead?

_**Summary:**_ Sasuke defeats Naruto at the Valley of the End and tosses his body down river. As Kakashi arrives, he vows to never abandon a comrade again, regardless of orders. However, some sentient zombies and a former terrorist have other plans for a certain blonde jinchuriki…

The dramatic battle has ended as Naruto lays, bleeding on the stone ground, Sasuke standing over him, his three-tomoe Sharingan spinning madly.

"Face it, Naruto. You're too weak to fight me. You're not even good enough to wash me feet."

Sasuke began stomping on Naruto's head, laughing maniacally all the while.

"Come on, get up. What happened to the dead last who wanted to beat me?"

Naruto, all the while, can do nothing but take blow after blow, exhausted from tapping into Kyuubi's chakra for so long. He lies in a pool of his own blood, the hole in his chest caused by Sasuke's Chidori healing far too slowly.

Sasuke, receiving no response from his former "teammate," decides to rid himself of the irksome stain in his life that was Naruto Uzumaki. He tears off Naruto's forehead protector, tossing it aside like some piece of trash. Lifting him up onto his shoulders, Sasuke walks over to the river, intent on making Naruto disappear.

"Say goodnight, dead last."

With one toss, Sasuke flings Naruto downriver, his body moving to the will of the currents. He quickly disappears from the horizon without a trace. Seeing his ex-teammate drift away, Sasuke only smirks and heads off toward Orochimaru, intent on gaining more power.

* * *

><p>Speeding toward the desolate battleground, Kakashi could only inwardly frown with worry.<p>

'Naruto…Hang on, I'm almost there. Just keep Sasuke there and stay alive…'

"Pakkun," Kakashi says. "How close are we?"

Pakkun could only grunt. "Close. Bust Sasuke's scent is distant. I think he's already gone."

"And Naruto?" Kakashi says with a hint of worry in his tone.

"…I think his scent is fading Kakashi…"

Kakashi's uncovered eye could only widen in fear of the truth that Naruto might not make it. Desperate to find his student, Kakashi sped up considerably, with Pakkun following close behind.

'Oh, Kami. Naruto, please be alright.'

* * *

><p>A man walks calmly through the forest, wandering, looking for nothing in particular. He wears a simple trench coat with a hood over his head. The coat is open, showing a simple white t-shirt. He wears a pair of jeans and Proverse shoes. A face mask covered his mouth with tinted black goggles covering his face. As he strolls through the brush, he is deep in thought.<p>

'This continent is so much different from ours. It's not as technologically advanced as ours, and humans are capable of various techniques called…what was it? Jutsu? Yes, I believe that's the correct term. However, these techniques seem to be limited and not very reliable, as they involve the use of elements of nature. That large group of ninja who attacked us seemed to be strong, saying they were…A-ranked I think it was. But yet they were too slow, having to go through various positions with their hands before being able to unleash their techniques. Plus the fact that the techniques couldn't even begin to put strain on my Free Will shield. We've fought much tougher opponents then them. Samurai ghosts, non-sentient zombies, the Baron, ZPCI. Hell, even that hobo on that one train to Hew was stronger than those ninja, and he killed himself in the end due to sickness! I'm beginning to wonder if anyone here has any real strength.'

While he was musing, a scent caught his nose. It was faint, but he could recognize that scent from a mile away.

'Blood…Someone's dying. I need to find them, and fast!'

Sprinting now, the masked stranger come upon a stream, bust what he sees shakes him quite a bit. There in the dirt lies a young boy, around the age of twelve. His blonde hair is damp and his clothes are worse for wear. But the only thing the man sees is the gaping hole in his chest.

"Dear God, what the hell happened to you?"

Rushing to the boy's side, he does a quick inspection. He pulls off his goggles, revealing a pair of glowing gold eyes, sclera and all.

'He has a hole in his chest the size of a fist, and his left lung is torn up. How is he still alive?'

He notices the boys eyes open slightly, and he queries him.

"Hey, young man, are you alright?"

Naruto looked up to see a man with gold eyes, but his vision begins to fade.

"Hey, hey! Don't die on me now! Shit, I'm no healer, and Free Will can't heal wounds like this instantly. Where the hell is Veradux when you need him?"

Naruto, hearing the man's voice once again remains awake, desperately clinging onto dear life.

'Damn it, he's taken too much damage. There's only one option left to help.'

"Okay. Young man, what I am about to do is going to hurt you, but I SWEAR, I am trying to help you. Do you understand?"

Naruto, seeing no other option, simply nods slightly. Seeing this, the stranger stands back up. He places both of his arms out, his palms facing Naruto, who still lies on the ground.

"Okay, here goes. Shock Coma!"

A green light envelopes the stranger's hands, green electrical bolts erupting from the glow. The green bolts quickly find their target and hit the dying Uzumaki. Naruto shakes on the ground, as if having a seizure, before tensing and finally going limp. The hole in his chest, which was healing rather slowly, seems to be healing slightly faster.

'That should be alright until I get him to Veradux. But I had better hurry, the effects of that technique won't last long.'

Picking up the boy bridal style so as not to disturb the wound, the stranger runs off, looking for his friends.

* * *

><p>Stopping at the Valley of the End, Kakashi could only sob, his hand shaking, gripping the only thing he had left of his student. Naruto's forehead protector trembles in his hand, scratched and nicked from being dropped on the ground. Knowing Naruto would never leave the village, Kakashi could only come to one conclusion.<p>

'Oh Kami, Naruto. I'm sorry…I'm so so sorry…'

Closing his eye, Kakashi steels himself. Thinking of his 'deceased' student one more time, Kakashi vows to not just his sensei's memory, not just Obito's or Rin's memory, but also to Naruto's memory. He vows to never abandon his comrades ever again. Hi swears to take care of his friends and not just hide behind that porn book he carries around. This time, Kakashi Hatake will not ignore his allies.

Author's note: Well, how was it? Good? Crap? Short? If you have any advice, please feel free to tell me. Again, this is my first story, so please keep that in mind. Thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2: Broken Hopes, Unusual Meeting

**Not Even Death Will Keep Me Down**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise or Sonny. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto whilst Sonny belongs to Jakrin. If you don't know what Sonny is, check out . It's a fun game, especially the second one.

"I'm dead?" – Person speaking

'Why does he look like that?' – Person thinking

"**Shut up while I think" – Demon speaking**

'**Soon, his power will be mine' – Demon thinking**

Retrograde – Jutsu/technique

_Flashback_ – Flashback

Chapter 2: Broken Hopes and Unusual Meetings.

Standing at the gates of Konoha, a certain blonde busty Hokage awaits the return of one Kakashi Hatake. Alongside her are her aide, her pet pig, Jiraiya the remainder of the "Konoha 12;" Konoha's top rookies, the two owners of Ramen Ichiraku, and the majority of the villagers. Staring at the horizon, the Hokage could only think about one person.

'Oh, Naruto. Come back, please…'

Meanwhile a certain pink-haired banshee of a girl stands by, waiting for her so-called beloved to be brought back.

'That idiot better bring back my Sasuke. If he doesn't, I'LL KILL HIM!'

The two gate guards, Chunin Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane can only watch the path and hope that somebody comes back. Out on the horizon comes a tall man in the standard shinobi garb of Konoha. His silver hair seems to defy gravity and his forehead protector covers his left eye. His pace is slow, almost trance like, as he refuses to look up. The man is followed by a small brown pug with a Konoha forehead protector on the top of his head and a blue vest. Seeing this, the Two Chunin quickly call over the Hokage.

"Lady Tsunade! Kakashi Hatake has returned!"

Before anyone can blink, Tsunade rushes over to Kakashi's side, intent on proving her hopes true. But fate is one cruel mistress, and decides to toy with the Fifth Hokage. Kakashi could only collapse to his knees and sob uncontrollably.

"Naruto…Oh, Kami, why? I'm so sorry…Forgive me…"

Tsunade could only shake in horror, knowing that her favorite brat, the one who convinced her to turn her life around, was gone. In an instant, she too began to cry. Ayame, one of Naruto's first friends, soon followed, unable to keep her sorrow pent up. Teuchi could hold his daughter, hiding his sadness for her sake. Most of the Konoha 12 bowed their heads in memory of their fallen comrade. Choji stopped eating, Kiba was trembling, and Hinata was crying waterfalls. Shikamaru simply kept his eyes closed, but if one looked closely enough, they would notice the tears that threatened to fall. The villagers, on the other hand, cheered like mad. Shouts of "The demon is dead!" or "The brat's finaly gone!" resounded through the streets. Sakura, the single-minded banshee that she was, only ask one thing.

"Where's that blonde idiot with my Sasuke?"

Immediately, a massive amount of killing intent poured from the gate. Most of the civilians fell to their knees and began to gag, feeling as though they were being strangled. The rookies could only shake in fear, their lives flashing before their eyes. All who could stand up to the killing intent turned toward the gate, only to find Kakashi back on his feet. His fists clenched, he slowly strode towards Sakura, who began sweating bullets, fear overriding all control over her body. Looming over his student, Kakshi could only lash out.

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THAT BASTARD TRAITOR'S NAME! YOUR TEAMATE IS DEAD, AND YET ALL YOU CAN THINK ABOUT IS HIS KILLER?"

All shinobi in attendance did nothing but watch as Kakashi berated Sakura in front of the entire village, screaming out at her for her callousness and disregard for the one who treated her like a princess. Before anyone noticed, Sakura was one the ground covering her left cheek, a red mark from a slap from Kakashi imprinted on her face. Kakashi slowly stalked over toward her, intent on teaching her a lesson, fellow Konoha nin be damned. Shaking out of their thoughts, a group of shinobi held Kakashi back, knowing the outcome if they let go. As much as they agreed with him, the death of one more person wasn't worth it. The villagers' on the other hand, had mixed feelings. On one hand, the so-called "Demon brat" was finally killed by their precious Uchiha. On the other hand, said Uchiha left of his own accord. Unsure of what to do they simply stood on and watched.

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up in a daze, sore in every part of his body. He took a look around and saw dank water up to his ankles. Pipes jutted from the walls and in front of him was a giant cage. Only one place in his knowledge could he identify with where he was standing now.<p>

"The sewer… My mindscape…Furball…" Yes, Naruto knew about Kyuubi. Unknown to most people, the idiot known as Naruto Uzumaki was only a mask, a con he put up in public so he could hide the tears. Naruto wasn't a Nara by any stretch of the imagination, but he also wasn't as stupid as people thought he was. He knew about the burden he carried, but kept quiet about it in fear of being mistaken for the demon.

"**I heard that."** Hearing the Kyuubi's voice, Naruto decided to have a little chat with his tenant.

"So, what happened? I lost consciousness after Duck-butt stomped on my head." **"So far, I'm not quite sure to be honest," **said Kyuubi in a neutral tone.**"You washed up by a riverbank not too far from the Valley when someone found you. He was very…interesting, to say the least."**

"What do you mean by that? What was so special about him?" Naruto asked, as something that interested Kyuubi was something he shouldn't ignore.

"**At first, he didn't seem very strong. But before I could take control of your body, he was somehow able to suppress my youki and boost the healing factor I gave you."**

Naruto could only blink in shock at this new information. Some passersby was able to suppress Kyuubi? THE Kyuubi no Kitsune? Whoever this is, he wants to meet him. "So where are we now, Kyuubi?"

'**Huh,'** Kyuubi thought. **'He didn't insult me or start overreacting. Odd…' "I don't know. I can't tell what happened after, but I did hear him say something about getting you help. From some person named "Veradux," I believe."**

"Veradux?" Naruto queried. "That's an odd name. What did he-"

But before he could continue, he felt his consciousness returning. **"You're waking up, kit. Make sure to find out EVERYTHING from this…person."**

"Yeah, I got it. Relax." And with that said, Naruto disappeared, leaving Kyuubi to its own thoughts. **'I should be disturbed that someone could stop me so easily. And yet, why do I not feel threatened? I need to know more.'**

* * *

><p>"Uugghh….." Naruto grunted as he sat up. Looking around, he finds himself in a forest. Strange machines with lights on them lie on a table set up. Naruto also notices that his shirt is missing, bandages wrapping around his chest in its place. He sees two people not too far off and decided to listen in on the conversation, painfully crawling behind a tree to listen in.<p>

"-he can't be moving about too much," one said. The person's voice identifies him as a male. The man stood around 6'1. He's wearing white boots that go up to his knees with white lights on them. He also wears black pants and some kind of white armor with glowing white lights and two glowing red plus signs, one on each shoulder. A white helmet with two white glowing lines running across where his eyes and his nose should be hide his face. "He may have some weird healing factor, but that alone won't allow him to recover fully. If he moves then that wound will open up again."

"I see. And what of the unusual energy radiating from him?" the other man said in an unsusual accent. He appeared to be around 5'11 and wore much simpler clothes, a simple trench coat with a hood over his head. The coat is open, showing a simple white t-shirt. He wears a pair of jeans and Proverse shoes. A face mask covered his mouth with tinted black goggles covering his face.

"From what I can tell, and in conjunction with the history of this back-ass continent, it's demonic energy, or termed here "Youki." But I tell you, it's nothing compared to the Baron."

"Oh God, Veradux. If I have to hear that monster's name one more time, I'll kill myself."

"Sorry, Sonny." The man, now identified as Sonny turns toward where Naruto was supposed to be. "Come on. Let's check up on him. If he's awake we can ask him where he's from. I told Roald to watch the nearby ninja village in the meantime while Felicity collects bounties for cash."

Naruto, realizing the situation, tries to crawl back, only for the wound from Sasuke's Chidori to open up again, unable to cope with the sudden amount of pain, Naruto could only scream.

"GYYYYAAAHHHHH!"

Sonny and Veradux turn toward one of the trees, only to find Naruto bleeding like crazy again. "Ah shit! Sonny hold him down, he's going into shock!" "I can't, he's shaking too much!" Veradux does a quick scan with his helmet. "Shit! His vitals are dropping fast. We gotta do somethin' Sonny." "You're the medic, you tell me!"

Seeing Naruto squirm like that, Sonny and Veradux had to make a decision and fast.

* * *

><p>Author's note: I feel as though I should lengthen my descriptions, but I want feedback from you guys. Thanks for reading!<p> 


	3. Chapter 3: My Tenant and New Faces

Not Even Death Will Keep Me Down

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise or Sonny. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto whilst Sonny belongs to Jakrin. If you don't know what Sonny is, check out . It's a fun game, especially the second one.

Author's Note: I feel as though I was asking you guys too much with that poll thing, so I apologize. On with the story.

"I'm dead?" – Person speaking

'Why does he look like that?' – Person thinking

"**Shut up while I think" – Demon speaking**

'**Soon, his power will be mine' – Demon thinking**

Retrograde – Jutsu/technique

_Flashback_ – Flashback

Chapter 3: I'm dead…Again? And what's this about Vixens?

_Recap: Naruto, realizing the situation, tries to crawl back, only for the wound from Sasuke's __Chidori__ to open up again, unable to cope with the sudden amount of pain, Naruto could only scream._

"_GYYYYAAAHHHHH!"_

_Sonny and Veradux turn toward one of the trees, only to find Naruto bleeding like crazy again. "Ah shit! Sonny hold him down, he's going into shock!" "I can't, he's shaking too much!" Veradux does a quick scan with his helmet. "Shit! His vitals are dropping fast. We gotta do somethin' Sonny." "You're the medic, you tell me!"_

_Seeing Naruto squirm like that, Sonny and Veradux had to make a decision and fast._

Present Time

"We're losing him, Veradux! We're losing him!" Sonny shouted, trying in vain to hold down Naruto. Naruto's body continued to convulse and shake, blood leaking from his chest wound. Veradux could only watch as he mentally ran through his options.

'I **could** use that technique, but in his current condition, he might turn…Dammit, what do I do?'

"Veradux! Veradux! Do something already! My Shock Coma isn't keeping him stable!"

Gulping, Veradux could only face Naruto once again, a solemn expression hidden by his Medic helmet. Hesitatingly, he pulled his Shock Rifle in front of him. The bayonet glinted in the moonlight as the red dot laser slowly moved up Naruto's body and stopped right at the center of his chest. The weapon's systems came to life, small lights glowing on the rifle. The matte black figure of the gun was shadowed by the darkness of the night. Making the lights look like fireflies. Sonny could only back away in shock at what he saw.

"Veradux, what the 9 bloody hells are you DOING? We're trying to save the kid, not put him out of my misery!" Sonny shouted, returning to Naruto's side, using his body as a shield from Veradux.

"Move Sonny, I'm not gonna kill him. I'm not that stupid."

Confused, Sonny could only query, "Wha? Then what's the rifle for-"

"I'm gonna use Re-energize, Sonny. It's the only thing I can think of to save the kid," Veradux said, powering up his rifle. "By channeling the skill through my rifle instead of my hands, I might be able to save him."

Realization dawned on Sonny as he connected the dots and knew the repercussions of using that technique on a dead or dying person.

"No way! There has to be another way to keep him alive! What if he turns, what then? The odds of him becoming like us are slim to none, and you know it!"

Veradux could only nod sadly as he took aim at poor Naruto, intent on committing to his plan.

"Do you got any other ideas? If so, I'm all ears dude."

Sighing, Sonny could only step out of Veradux's line of fire, Veradux's red dot back on Naruto's chest.

"Do it."

Channeling his Focus, Veradux's rifle barrel began to glow a dim yellow. The glow began to grow and brighten, engulfing the barrel. Soon, blue streaks of light sparked around the glow as it illuminated the forest floor. In a loud voice, Veradux shouted,

"RE-ENERGIZE!"

* * *

><p>Inside Naruto's mindscape, only one word could describe his state of mind.<p>

Chaos.

The walls shook, the waters receded and flowed irregularly. The pipes of Kyuubi's cage fell as cracks appeared all over the place. Energy flared and diminished from Kyuubi in a vain attempt to keep Naruto alive. Kyuubi lies on the floor, weak as energy seeps from its body, barely keeping the entire space together. Naruto lies on the floor, wheezing and shaking, his eyes barely open.

"W-what's-s g-g-goi—ng on?" Naruto groaned, struggling in a contest of wills, struggling to stay alive..

"**Hold on…dammit, hold on you idiot…**" Kyuubi grunted out in response, trying to keep its container alive with demonic energy, and not out of the kindness of its heart.

The floor continues to shake, sewer water slowly leaking into crevasses in the floor. Light fades from the gigantic room as Naruto and Kyuubi slowly begin to lose their grips on life. Suddenly, a yellow flash occurs in the mindscape. All vision is blocked out by a bright yellow light, streaks of blue occasionally flashing across the room. For what seems to be an eternity, the only noise heard is the crackling of electricity. The light dims, revealing Kyuubi, Naruto, and the mindscape once more.

"Ugh…what in Kami's name just happened," Naruto asked no one in particular, slowly getting to his feet. "Hey, furball," the jinchuuriki shouted. "Where are you?"

"**Stop shouting, you hyperactive brat…"** Kyuubi managed to groan out, regaining its bearings. Naruto could only gasp at what he saw. Kyuubi's form was no longer the massive nine tailed giant kitsune of doom shoved behind a cage. Now Kyuubi looked just like a chibi fox, small build, blood red fur, twitching fox ears and all. But the most eye catching thing was the lack of eight other tails. Not a single part of it seemed threatening anymore. In fact, if one didn't know any better (and if they were female), they would most likely have squealed "CUTE!" at Kyuubi.

"K-K-Kyu-u-ub-b-bi…" Naruto sputtered out, his mouth in a giant "O" afterwards, still suffering from shock at the sight in front of him.

"**Hey kit, when did you suddenly get taller? And why do I feel so weak?"** Kyuubi said before collapsing on its fours once again. **"What are you gaping at?"** It asked, unsure of what the blonde Genin was thinking. Naruto quickly formed a mirror in front of Kyuubi, who did something he never expected Kyuubi to do.

Scream like a girl.

"**EEEEHHHHHH? WHAT HAPPENED TO ME? WHERE ARE MY OTHER TAILS? AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHY AM I A CHIBI FOX?" **Kyuubi shouted, the deep, demonic, and most importantly, masculine voice gone from its tone. **'And why do I have the sudden urge to be cuddled?**' It added as an afterthought. Its voice was more feminine, light and melodious. Its musings were interrupted by Naruto's sudden question.

"Kyuubi, you're a girl?"

"**Sh-h-hut up! What's it to you, brat?"** Kyuubi retorted, not wanting to show signs of weakness to her container. Naruto simply walked towards her, his eyes never leaving her form. Kyuubi subconsciously backed up, fealing for the first time something she hadn't felt in years: fear. The only ther time she felt that way was when Naruto's father, the Fourth Hokage, summoned the Shinigami to seal her in Naruto. Kyuubi, the most powerful of the nine bijuu, was unaccustomed to facing someone or something with more power than her. She couldn't help but feel helpless as she knew that all the power she once had suddenly disappeared in that yellow light. Now here she was, backing away from a twelve year old child, her power gone. **"N-no…Stay back…"** Kyuubi squeaked out, fear apparent in her eyes. Naruto was stumped. One of the nine tailed bijuu, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, was afraid of him? Sure, she was smaller now, but that had nothing to do with her power, right? Surely the fox demon still had the ability to rip him in half. Then Naruto noticed Kyuubi's lack of eight tails and began to connect the dots.

'It-no, she lost her power? But where has it all gone?' He looked into Kyuubi's eyes and saw something he was all too familiar with during his pre-shinobi childhood: he saw fear. 'She really is afraid of me…' But before he could speak, he faded from the mindscape, leaving Kyuubi to her own thoughts. She transformed out of her fox form into what would be described as a heavenly figure. Kyuubi had blood red hair flowing down to mid-back, her heart shaped face stained with tears. She wore a loose red kimono with black accents, nine tails detailing the back.

"**He'll come back…And he'll finally get rid of me…"** Kyuubi, overcome with everything that has occurred, finally broke down and cried. **"Please don't hurt me…please…"** she croaked out, her words smothered by her tears. Kyuubi held herself in a vain attempt to feel better, to give herself a false sense of security.

"…**I want a hug…"**

* * *

><p>Naruto woke up in a dazed, his vision blurry and his mind disoriented. In his (terrible) sight were two figures, one with the bright, glowing white armor and the one with the trench coat and t-shirt. Their voices sound slurred and vague, their appearances fuzzy. Naruto felt as though the world was spinning like a tornado as he tried to stand up, only to fall back. He slowly regained his bearings as his vision and his hearing refocused. The voices of the two men became clearer and clearer until their words were clear as day.<p>

"-ay? Are you okay, kid? Answer me. Nod once if you can hear me; twice if you can't." the man in the trench coat said.

Naruto, still a bit dizzy bu otherwise fine, nodded his head. The man let out an audible sigh as he turned toward his glowing associate.

"Next time, tell me what the bloody hell you're gonna do BEFORE you start pointing you rifle at God-knows-what; won't you ,Veradux?"

The man in the armor simply snorted as he responded, "Hey, at least the kid is fine. That's all that matters."

Ignoring his colleague's retort, the trench coat man turned back to Naruto.

"What's you're name kid? Where do you come from? And more importantly, why did you have a hole in you chest the size of my fist?"

"Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto responded somewhat painfully. "I'm from the Village Hidden in the Leaves, Konohagakure. And I had a gaping hole in my chest because my bastard of a teammate ran me through with a lightning jutsu while deserting the village."

"My name is Sonny. No surname. The fool of a man (Hey!) behind me is my friend Veradux. I found you a few miles away from some valley and brought you back to our camp to recuperate. Right now, your body is still in the recovery process, so I'm going to have to ask you to rest. I'll explain what we did to help you when you've made a full recovery. Is that alright Naruto?"

Naruto, seeing no other option, simply sighed and agreed to the terms.

"I guess I'll just talk to the fox again, not like _she's _of any help."

A light bulb went on above Sonny's head as re processed that last statement. 'Fox? You can't put a fox in a person. But what does he mean by – wait, does he mean the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon we've heard about? If that's the case, then that must've been the demonic energy I was sensing from him.' Deciding to see if his hunch was right, Sonny was blunt.

"As in the Nine-Tailed Fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune of legend?"

Naruto tensed as he thought, 'how does he know?' He turned his head so fast it might've snapped, looking at Sonny with a bit of fear, anger, and hesitance.

"How do you know that?" Naruto screamed. Instantly he regretted it as the pain from his wound kicked in. Naruto clutched his chest, a tint of red staining the bandages around his chest. Sonny was instantly by his side, laying him down on the ground.

"Easy, kid! Easy! Look, I'll explain everything, just please take time to recover first, dear God! I won't hurt you, I was just curious. Please, just lie down and I will tell you anything you want to know, alright?"

Again with no other options, Naruto simply lied back down gently and lost himself in his own thoughts before succumbing to his exhaustion. Sonny pulled a confused Veradux out of sight and confronted him about their current situation, pulling down his hood and mask and revealing his green skin.

"Would you mind explaining to me what the hell you two were talking about when you mentioned a 'nine-tailed fox' if I heard correctly?"

"The boy has a demon inside of him, but the energy is fading. I think that when you used Re-energize on him the demon was trying to heal him as well, and the power somehow was assimilated into the boy's natural energy." Cue giant question mark over Veradux's head. Sonny held in an exasperated sigh as he loathed Veradux's inability to keep track to conversations.

"Whatever. The point is, I think the demon has lost its power. Now this boy may have it, but he has no idea. Also, the village he mentioned was the same one we sent Roald to scout. If we bring him back, we can clear this mess up."

Veradux finally decided to speak up, saying, "What about the kid's teammate? Maybe we can track him for the kid." Sonny simply shook his head.

"Right now, I'm more worried about our guest's welfare. Besides how are we going to explain what we just made him?"

"What do you mean?" Veradux asked, not understanding Sonny once again. Sonny fought the urge to facepalm at his medic friend's failure to pay attention.

"Didn't you see his eyes?" Veradux shook his head in the negative. Sonny finally dropped the bomb.

"His eyes, sclera and all…they're light blue. And GLOWING. Veradux…I think we turned him."

Only one statement could describe what Veradux's next statement was.

"Oh shit."

* * *

><p>Author's note: GOD this took so long to write! Longest chapted yet, nearly doubling my word count of previous chapters. Anyway, there's chapter three. I've already begun to write Chapter 4. It's gonna introduce Roald, another character from the Sonnyverse (That term sounds SO weird) and his role in all will Naruto handle the news? How will Kyuubi come to terms with all that has happened? How will Sonny handle this situation? Will Veradux ever get smarter? …Scratch that last one, the answer is easy. Anyway, I'm still looking for feedback from you guys…Even though there are only like, what? Seven people reading this? Whatever. Also, don't expect quick updates, as my mom is pushing me for straight A's in high school, and I won't have a lot of time to update. Maybe once or twice a month by my guess. Sorry, but I have school to worry about (CURSE YOU SPANISH 2!) *Did not mean to rhyme there…*<p>

Until next time,

Renchard19, out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Not Even Death Will Keep Me Down**

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise or Sonny. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto whilst Sonny belongs to Jakrin. If you don't know what Sonny is, check out . It's a fun game, especially the second one.

"I'm dead?" – Person speaking

'Why does he look like that?' – Person thinking

"**Shut up while I think" – Demon speaking**

'**Soon, his power will be mine' – Demon thinking**

Retrograde – Jutsu/technique

_Flashback_ – Flashback

Author's Note: Ok, before I begin, I need to answer this.

To sulfur angel: The only reason I used energize in the last chapter was because I did not feel like coming up with some weird original skill and because it seemed logical at the time. If you see the intro from the first game, you'll see Sonny's body covered in blue lighting sparks before he regains consciousness. I simply assumed Louis used Re-energize revive Sonny.

**Chapter 4**

_Recap: "What do you mean?" Veradux asked, not understanding Sonny once again. Sonny fought the urge to facepalm at his medic friend's failure to pay attention._

"_Didn't you see his eyes?" Veradux shook his head in the negative. Sonny finally dropped the bomb._

"_His eyes, sclera and all…they're light blue. And GLOWING. Veradux…I think we turned him."_

_Only one statement could describe what Veradux's next statement was._

"_Oh shit."_

Present Time: Sonny's camp

Sonny simply nodded. "Anyway," he continued. "We need to confirm his statement with the village. Our helmet visors can take pictures and transfer information, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Veradux asked, still utterly lost as to where this conversation was going.

"Can I contact Roald on his comm-link through one of them?" Sonny asked.

"…Yeaaaahhhhh…" the medic zombie said, slowly beginning to see where Sonny was heading (at least in his mind).

"Where did you put the helmets?" Sonny asked, walking away towards the horribly-organized pile of supplies the group brought with them. Among the inventory were a couple of ZPCI and Utopia Police armor pieces, some rifles and an assortment of melee weapons, spare clothes, and food stuffs (as the only human of the group still needed to eat). Sonny rummaged through the pile filled with useful and intimidating crap, but for the love of Krin, where the hell were the damned helmets?

"Damn it, Veradux! Where are the helmets?"

Veradux could only sweat-drop at the scene before him, knowing that Sonny normally doesn't lose his cool over something so trivial. That, and the fact that Sonny failed to notice that there was a helmet by his personal pack.

"Uh…Sonny…"

*CLANG* *SHING* *BANG*

The medic zombie shook his head as Sonny began tossing half their arsenal around the camp for something that was only a couple of feet to his right. Swords were impaled in the ground, guns were going off every now and again, followed by the clanging of armor against armor. He turned back towards where Naruto was sleeping. 'Dear Krin, how can this kid sleep in all this noise?' Veradux thought before looking back at the chaos that was Sonny.

"Sonny…"

*BOOM* *THUD* *GLASS BREAKS*

"SONNY!" Veradux yelled, tired of watching half of his stuff be tossed around like garbage (and because Sonny was about two seconds from tossing an axe behind him, and Veradux did NOT want to perform surgery on himself). "Look to your right, you idiot," he said while resisting the urge to beat some sense into his partner. With an Electro-Bolt to the face.

Sonny turned his head to his right as his undead comrade said, and saw it. It was a Riot Helmet from on of the Riot Troops in Utopia. It glinted with its black sheen and light blue scalp plate. The antenna was five inches high from where the right ear should be. Instead of remaining flat like the left side of the helmet, the right ear had a dial for the various communication channels everyone's comm-links had. The blue visor lens stared back at him, with what seemed like…disappointment? The green-skinned Psychological merely hung his head in shame and embarrassment. "*sigh* Thanks mate," Sonny sighed out as he picked up the helmet and placed it on his head. His hand went to the dial and turned it until the static Sonny heard left.

"Oy, Roald. You there?"

Silence reigned over the comms for a few seconds until a male voice with what sounded like a Scottish accent responded.

"_Sonny? What the hell mate? I'm in the middle of a village full of ninja and a huge fight with the leader just broke out, and you pick NOW of all times to contact me?"_

"Sorry, Roald. I need some info on something. And YES, it IS important."

_*Sigh* "Ok, what do you want to know?_ Roald asked slight irritated.

Í have a young boy here by the name of Naruto Uzumaki. He claims he's from the village you're in. Care to confirm?" Sonny asked seriously, wanting to know what he might get himself into.

"_Actually yes, he is from here. In fact, the fight at the city gates was about someone with that exact same name. The village leader, or 'Hokage' if I heard her subordinates correctly, was pretty broken up over him. Everybody thinks he's dead, Sonny. Apparently, only a very small minority seem to care about him. I keep hearing his name in various conversations from the ninja and civilian populace. And nothing good mind you. Some crap about some 'Demon Fox' or something finally dying. Hell, most of the villagers began partying over the news. Know anything about it?"_

'Damn,' Sonny thought. 'not only does he contain a demon, but everybody thinks he's dead, and most of them are HAPPY about this?' Sonny's fists clenched as anger boiled in his body, which only worsened because of his condition as a Psychological. Instantly a flashback was triggered that nearly set him off.

_Flashback – Gadi-Kala: The Great Plains_

_The Baron lay dead on the plains of the once-feared Shaman tribe. Galiant the Paladin, a powerful warrior from the ZPCI stood over him. One foot rested on the zombie's chest while his sword was sticking out of the Baron's hear as he began some monologue about greatness and justice. Not very far away, Veradux aimed his medic rifle at the Paladin's back._

"_The Baron's dead. Come on, Sonny. Let's kill this whoopy super hero and leave."_

_Sonny could only look upon Veradux in shock at his undead friend's words._

"_But why?" Sonny asked. "He helped us."_

_The undead medic merely responded without turning his head._

"_Listen Sonny. To them, we're monsters. Now we can be either alive monsters, or dead ones. You choose."_

_Sonny could only look down and sigh in defeat. Veradux's words were true, but could he really go through with killing someone who hasn't attacked him first for once. But images of his first friend back on the White November came back into his mind. Sonny held back tears that threatened to blur the inside of the helmet that hid his face._

'_Louis…'_

_Sonny steeled himself. 'He isn't a good guy. He's a ZPCI. One of them. They took away the only person who knew who I used to be. He must die.' Sonny took up a firing stance next to his only existing friend as he took aim with his rifle as well._

_Galiant finally finished his monologue and turned back to his supposed comrades to congratulate them on a job well done, only to be met by glowing visors and gun barrels._

"_You would turn against me?" the Paladin shouted as he withdrew his sword from his foe's chest. He pointed it at the two disguised zombies and swung the glowing longsword. Veradux quickly ducked to the side and avoided the energy slash that was flying towards him a moment ago. Sonny, however, was shocked that the Paladin could engage in ranged combat with a sword, since Galiant never used ranged attacks against the Baron. Instinctively he put up the gun in front of himself to take the force of the blow. The arc came diagonally, destroying the gun and his helmet. The shattered helmet fell to the ground as Sonny shook of the attack. Galiant meanwhile stood shocked at the sentient undead corpse. A zombie had helped him defeat a zombie? But his shock quickly turned to rage. He seethed behind his helmet, as he knew that if the zombies are here, then his reinforcements were dead._

"_You will pay for your deception!" The Paladin shouted as he raised his blade for another strike._

_*BANG*_

_A single gunshot rang out, quickly followed by a shattering and a loud scream._

"_GRRRAAAHHHHH!" The Paladin bellowed out as he dropped his sword and pulled off his helmet. What greeted the two zombies was an angular face that looked to be in its mid-thirties. Galiant had a pale complexion and a grizzled aftershave. Dirty blonde hair sat upon his head in a buzzcut, but the entire left side of his face was terrible. It was a gory mess, with blood seeping down his face and staining the white armor he wore. The white knight lay crunched up in agony at the sudden loss of part of his head. Veradux camp up by Sonny and gave a disapproving 'tsk.'_

"_The one headshot I get," the medic started. "and I miss the brain. What the fuck kinda bullshit luck is that?"_

_Sonny, however, was torn. On one had, he was glad to be rid of a possible assailant. But on the other hand, this was a human being bleeding out here. Each pained scream tore at the undead man's heart. He couldn't stand the agony any longer. He stepped forward, his right hand clutching a sickly purple orb surrounded by purple lighting sparks._

"_I can't take this. I'm ending it." Sonny declared with an exhausted look in his eyes. Veradux said nothing, also sickened by the Paladin's cries of pain, which had simmered down to whimpers. Sonny stood over the white knight, right palm facing the man's head._

"_I'm sorry. __Void.__"_

_The purple orb shot out of Sonny's hand at Galiant's face. He barely had time to register the attack as a wave of purple overcame him. The body of the ZPCI shook and twitched for a couple of seconds and then remained still. For the first time since he left the White November, Sonny felt defeated. He had just gotten rid of a very dangerous enemy, but he also executed a human being. If zombies could feel sick, he would be vomiting all over the plains. But Sonny just stood there, unmoving, gazing at the man once known as "Galiant the Paladin." Veradux simply waited there for Sonny to come back to his senses, too tired to do anything. For what seemed like an eternity, Sonny remained standing over to body of the Paladin, mulling over his actions. The sun set, then fell. The moon shined in the night, its light glinting off of the remaining white on the Paladin's armor. Finally, Sonny broke down. He dropped to his knees and cried uncontrollably, his pain of taking a human life the way he did overcoming his animosity towards every lining ZPCI member. After crying for what seemed to be hours, Sonny sat there hugging his knees. His eyes were closed, due to either thought or exhaustion. Veradux came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder._

"_Sonny? Come on man, get up. We gotta move outta this place." Veradux said, his dark face staring at the scarred zombie's solemn expression. Sighing, Sonny stood up and face Veradux, only to be met by a blade an inch away from his face._

"_You're gonna need a weapon, dude."Veradux stated before flipping the blade so that the handle faced Sonny. Sonny simply grabbed the sword before stepping a couple of feet away and did some practice swings. The sword felt lighter than he anticipated, with its silver sheen that covered the entire body, blade and all. The tip looked weighted, with a small section of the back of the blade tip being wider than the rest of the sword's tang (the entire metal piece that makes up the blade and the core of the grip). Resting the longsword on his right shoulder, Sonny strode past Veradux and towards the next area, his companion following along moments later._

_Flashback End_

Sonny's eyes remained closed as he recalled that moment before being brought back to reality by Roald's voice.

"_-nny? Sonny, are you there? You undead bastard, if this is a joke I'm not laughing."_

"Oh, uh… sorry. Zoned out there for a bit." Sonny admitted embarrassingly.

"_A bit? You've been radio silent for ten whole minutes you scatterbrain!" _Roald shouted through the comm-link. Shaking his head the get rid of the ringing in his ears, Sonny moved back towards the unconscious Naruto and stared down at him. Getting into a crouch, he put his hand on the boy's head.

"Ok, I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I promise. Now I have a job for you Roald. And it is imperative that you do this."

_*Sigh* "…Fine, alright. What do you want?"_

* * *

><p>(Scene Change)<p>

Inside Naruto's Mindscape

Naruto once again woke up, but this time not in ankle deep water. He could only stare at the changes his mind had taken. All the pipes all over the walls and floor have been frozen over, and instead of a demonic red color tinting the walls and floor, it was a smooth black with lines filled with some light blue energy which seemed to glow and then dim erratically. The blonde undead wandered aimlessly throughout his frozen mindscape, confused as to what had happened.

"How much crazier is this going to get?" Naruto said, looking around at what used to be his damp, dark, rundown sewer of a head. "First Duck-ass tosses me down a river, then I'm saved by some dude with a weird accent, I find out Kyuubi is a woman, and now my mind looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. What the hell is going on?"

Immediately something caught Naruto's attention, his head jerking to a dark corridor to his right. It was soft and light, but his ears picked it up. Someone was crying. Being the gold-hearted boy he was, Naruto headed towards the disturbance, hoping to help whoever was in trouble. As he stepped into the chamber, his eyes bugged out. What used to be the chamber for the Kyuubi no Kitsune was now something he saw out of a science-fiction movie. Instead of metal pipes and gushing waters all over the place, there were empty tables and chairs that were a navy blue hue. Blue screens were floating around, not showing any sort of actual use, just blue (like when a Windows '95 computer blue screens but without words).His attention turned to a sight he thought he'd never see. A girl in her late teens, maybe 19, was huddled in a secluded part of the room. She had soft crimson hair that went down to her lower back that hid her face from view, with two red fox ears down on her head. She appeared to be wearing a cherry red short sleeved shirt and a white skirt. Her skin was a nice pallor but seemed somewhat sick. Her legs were lithe yet beautiful. She seemed to mumble as she rocked herself, unaware of the blonde sentient.

"**It's all my fault…H-he'll blame me…I'm sorry…sorry…Oh Kami…"** the girl uttered nonsensically. Naruto, noticing the fox ears, decided to take a shot in the dark and guess who this girl was.

"Kyuubi?" Kyuubi's neck snapped so fast is should have broken as she turned to see her jailor. Her face was revealed, and was Naruto awed. She looked in a word: elegant. Kyuubi had high cheek bones and a heart shaped face that was the epitome of a combination of cute and sexy. However, it was stained with tears that poured out of her eyes.

"**N-No! Please d-don't hurt me…I'm sorry Naruto…I'll do anything, just please don't hurt me…"** Kyuubi begged and pleaded, fear apparent in her eyes as she gazed upon her container. Looking into her eyes, she trembled even more at the sight of Naruto's glowing eyes. Naruto, confused, stepped towards her, only for the red haired girl to shy away.

"Whoa, Kyuubi, hold on. I'm not going to hurt you, just explain to me what's going on." Naruto reasoned, trying to coax answers out of the former bijuu. But instead of words, all he received were whimpers and fearful looks. Sighing, Naruto did the only thing he could think of at the time. Kyuubi saw him walking towards her and hugged her knees close to her body, as if she were going to lose them if she let go. Within moments, Naruto loomed over her. Expecting blows, Kyuubi shut her eyes and awaited the coming beating. But it never came. Instead she felt two arms wrap around her in a warm embrace. Shocked, she opened her eyes to see two electric blue eyes stare back at her with a worried look.

"Kyuubi," Naruto started, "don't be scared of me. Just tell me what's going on."

"**I s-saw your memories. They all hurt you Naruto, all because of me. And now you're gonna hurt me too. I…I…I'M SORRY NARUTO! I'LL BE GOOD, I PROMISE! JUST PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"** Kyuubi cried out, once again bawling, but this time all over Naruto's jumpsuit. Naruto could only look on in sadness and pity: one of the most powerful beings in the Elemental Nations, crying all over his orange "Kill Me" jumpsuit.

"I won't hurt you Kyuubi. (What?) I don't hate you. To be honest, I don't know what to think of you now at this point. But I don't like to see a pretty girl cry." Oh if only Naruto was not so dense, he would've paid attention to his word choice. Kyuubi put her face back into Naruto's chest, not out of fear, but of shyness and embarrassment. If her face was not hidden, you could have seen a light pink tinge color the girl's cheeks. 'He thinks I'm pretty?'

"Oy, Kyuu. Why did you attack Konoha in the first place?" Naruto asked. Kyuubi could only sigh in weariness at the though of the attack.

"**To be honest, kit, I didn't want to attack in the first place. But that stupid Uchiha wouldn't leave me alone." **Naruto tensed up at the sound of that surname.

"Wait Uchiha? Who exactly?" **"It was Madara. Madara Uchiha. That damn bastard wouldn't leave me alone. As soon as I was released from my previous container, I tried to ignore him, but somehow he managed to push all the wrong buttons. As soon as I turn to face him, I looked into his eyes.** **That was a mistake. He MADE me attack Konoha. He-"**

"Well, you two look positively cute. But the sob story actually ruined it for me." A new voice spoke. Naruto and Kyuubi turned to see none other than Sonny standing there with a smirk replacing his mask. Kyuubi was confused yet scared, as she felt power oozing out of the undead Psychological. Naruto, however, took the superficial route.

"SONNY? HOW ARE YOU IN MY HEAD? AND WHY ARE YOU GREEN?"

"Oy, don't shout kid. Dear Krin, are you trying to scare the girl?" Sonny retorted, pointing at a quivering Kyuubi. "Ah!" Naruto gasped. "Sorry Kyuu." Kyuubi hesitated, but slowly let down her guard. Sonny shook his head at Naruto's bluntness towards a situation. 'It seems I have a lot of work ahead of me…' "Naruto, have you looked at your eyes recently? Like in the last ten hours?"

Naruto had a confused expression on his face, not understanding what his eyes had to do with this. "Uhhhh… No. Why?" "Naruto, form a mirror in here and look at yourself."

"…"

"…"

*CRICKETS CHIRPING*

"WHY THE HELL ARE MY EYES GLOWING?"

Kyuubi pressed her ears down to her head to muffle the shouting while Sonny sweatdropped.

"Sit down kid. You're gonna want to."

* * *

><p>(Scene Change – Konoha)<p>

Roald was not a happy man. He walked down the street, his hat in his hand as he ran his fingers through his short, disheveled brown hair. The man was dressed oddly to the villagers' eyes: brown combat boots with black pants that had what looked like metal plates protecting the outer thighs. Roald also wore his olive drab short-sleeved BDU with a long sleeved shirt under it and a military harness. His hands were covered by brown work gloves and his beanie cap shadowed his eyes. The man was in two words, pissed off. As soon as he got to this backwater continent, he was forced to leave all of his armor firearms with the group, as it would attract unwanted attention. 'And all they gave me to protect myself was one of Felicity's knives! I may be strong, but I'm still only human. And they expect me to be able to defend myself against a village full of ninja? I'm no Sonny, dammit!' Now here was the former insurgent, a man with no backup or advanced weaponry walking towards the center of power in the village. Sonny wanted him to make contact with the village leader, something that was borderline stupid. 'I could probably take a few dozen of their troops, and their leader seemed capable of only melee attacks. As long as I keep track of my fire strikes, I think I could get away. But I'm gonna need pure luck for that' Roald felt his right hand subconsciously inch towards the knife. 'Hmm…maybe I can do what Felicity did to Veradux and stick the lady in the face. Hopefully, she'll be like Veradux and scream "AGH! MY FACE!" while I sneak away.' He found himself in front of the Hokage's secretary, hearing a sob every now and again come from inside the office.

*Cough* "Excuse me, miss, but is the Hokage in? I'd like to speak with her if at all possible," Roald said with an elegant smoothness in his tone. 'Thank Krin I took those political speech lessons back at Hew after I took office.'

"I'm sorry sir, but the Hokage isn't in right now. Can I take a message?"

Roald decided to use the most classic political tactic in history and prayed to Krin that his plan worked.

He lied.

"I'm sorry, but it concerns a personal matter that I doubt the Hokage would like anyone else would like to know about. The news isn't good, I'm afraid." And like the gullible office worker she was, the secretary buzzed the ex-terrorist in.

"You can go right in sir."

'Hook, line, and sinker.' Roald though as he inwardly smirked. "Thank you, miss." He merely stated as he strode into the room. What he saw disappointed him. The Hokage was a (seemingly) young woman who looked to be in her mid to late thirties sobbing all over her desk. Her face was not seen as it was firmly planted onto paperwork that was on the desk. He saw the woman reach toward a bottle of what appeared to be alcohol and decided to make his presence known.

"Ahem."

Tsunade slowly raised her head, gazing upon the foreigner in front of her.

"Leave." She simply stated, continuing to reach for the bottle that bombed her skull at times like these. But before she knew it, Roald had taken both the bottle and the case with six other bottles before putting them out of her mind.

And by out of mind, he meant through out of sight.

By tossing everything out the window onto the street below.

*CRASH* "Now now, we don't want to be distracted by those, now would we?" Too emotional exhausted to argue, Tsunade simply grunted in response. An awkward silence overcame the room for a few minutes, until seeing no other option, Roald decided to get straight to the point.

"I have information about one Naruto Uzumaki." Before he could blink, Roald found a fist an inch away from his face and one pissed off Tsunade. The blonde Hokage reared her fist back, intent on smashing this man's face. Only one statement caused her to stop.

"My colleagues found him." Tsunade, hearing this, froze in her place, unable to take in what she just heard. "Wh-what?" Roald pressed the issue, hoping to get the woman's fist away from his body. "We found him." Tsunade remained silent as she walked back to her desk. She rested her face in her hands for a few moments, taking in unsteady breaths. After a few moments, the woman steeled herself and pleaded with the man. "Is he okay?" Tsunade asked in a near whisper. "Is there a way for me to speak without anyone else hearing?" Roald asked, hoping the woman's answer was a yes. His question was answered when Tsunade put her hands in a Ram seal and a white wave washed over the room for a split second. "Silencing seal. Now please, is he alright?" Roald took off his cap and looked at the fifth Hokage solemnly.

"Yes, he is alive, (in a certain way…)-" He was cut off by a relieved Tsunade, who was trying to hold back tears of joy at the news of one of the few precious people she had left. "But, due to his injuries and certain…_complications_, he cannot be moved back to this village." Tsunade immediately stood up in anxiety of this revelation, but when her mind replayed that last statement, her eyes narrowed. "What kind of complications?" The man just sighed as if exhausted and lazily replied, "To be honest, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. All I can say is that he is alright and in the care of my associates. I can bring you to him, but you might be surprised as to what happened." Tsunade, seeing no other choice, simply nodded. "Am I allowed to have other shinobi accompany me, considering you are a stranger to me?" Roald put his cap back on and turned towards to door. "You may," he said, "but only two others. An only if those people are ones you trust, have no grudge against the boy, and can to keep quiet about this. I've heard what the general populace has said about him and to be honest, I'm sickened. Meet me at the West gate when you're ready." And with that parting statement, the hardened foreigner left, leaving Tsunade in the office alone.

* * *

><p>(Scene Change – Naruto's mindscape)<p>

"Okay, let me get this straight." Naruto started. "You *points at Sonny* are a zombie, but you have retained your intelligence and emotions. The guy in the bright white armor is also a zombie, and your two other friends are a zombie and a really strong human." Sonny nods in confirmation of Naruto's recitation of Sonny's explanation. "And I," Naruto points at himself, "am a zombie too?" At Sonny's second nod, Naruto's head sank and his shoulders slumped.

"How am I gonna be Hokage now that I'm undead? Now I'm exactly what the villagers said I am: a monster." At the mere utterance of those words, Sonny snapped. His Focus flared so strongly that all the blue lights in the chamber turned a sickly purple, the blue video screens doing the same as they buzzed like static. Kyuubi held on to Naruto for dear life, feeling a sort of fear that was beyond demonic. Naruto could only quake in his place at the release of Sonny's power.

"Don't…you…ever…say that." Sonny uttered softly. Seeing the two squirm in fright, Sonny took a few deep breaths to calm himself, the mindscape returning to its original blue color. "Sorry 'bout that mates," the accented undead said. "Naruto, don't you ever call yourself a monster. The real monsters are those who destroy people in unthinkable ways for their own purposes. We're not monsters. We're just…different." Naruto just nodded, both out of understanding and fear. Sonny continued.

"Naruto, why do you want to become Hokage?" Naruto's face lit up with vibrancy, but after a few moments, fell into a soft smile.

"At first, it was to be recognized by everyone. But after one of my missions, I found a real reason. It's so that I can protect my precious people." Sonny nodded, but posed another query.

"If that's the case, then what does being Hokage have anything to do with it?" Naruto shouted in exuberance that was expected in one so innocent.

" 'Cause being Hokage means you're the strongest ninja ever!" The Psychological merely laughed at Naruto's enthusiasm, finding it humorous yet endearing.

"But from what I've been told, a Hokage isn't just a strong ninja. They are also great political leaders who know how to run a village. If your goal is to simply protect, but would you trouble yourself with things like economics and politics?" At this retort, Naruto remained silent. Why would he need to do all that? More importantly, why SHOULD he? Sure he wasn't a TOTAL idiot, but running a village? He just couldn't wrap his mind around that much responsibility. Noting his silence, Sonny continued.

"Look, I can see why you're so earnest in your desire to protect your loved ones, but you need to think about this more in-depth. Do you really want to burden yourself with the problems of EVERY villager in that village." Silence took over the room as Naruto was deep in thought. He kept pondering about what Sonny had just said to him. Various expressions of pain and understanding ran through as Naruto finally came to a declaration.

"So what do I do? If I go back now, they'll just think I am a (Don't say it…) …Ahem, and probably kill me." At this Sonny walked up to the blonde boy and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry. I have a plan. If it works, I'm going to make you more powerful that anybody else on this entire continent. We undead brothers have to stick together, you know?" At this, Naruto's eyes bulged out of his head.

"More than anybody else...?"

"Yup."

"…Stronger than my ex-teammate and his Sharingan?"

"Whatever that is, it won't work against you when we're through."

"…"

"…Naruto?"

"…" Sonny began inwardly sweating as Naruto remained silent. 'Oh dear Krin, did I break him?' But Naruto's response eased his thoughts.

"OH YEAH! I'M GONNA BE THE STRONGEST IN THE WORLD! FORGET HOKAGE!" Sonny shook his head in amusement at Naruto's energy and goofball habits. 'Hopefully he can be strong. I've got an odd feeling that something is coming back to haunt us again…Or maybe I should just stop playing post-apocalyptic games before bed…' Once again, Naruto shook Sonny out of his unusual musings.

"But Sonny," Naruto said, "what you did earlier…am I gonna be like that?" he asked hesitatingly. Sonny simply waved it off, explaining that outburst.

"No, Naruto, you're not going to be like that. That was simply due to my type of power as a zombie. Let me explain. There are generally three types of our kind. Biologicals are one. They are physical powerhouses, utilizing berserker strength, insane speed, or toxins formed in their own bodies. However, they generally have no ranged skills whatsoever. Obviously, they train their strength, speed, and vitality. I am what is known as a Psychological. I specialize in electric and shadow attacks, along with afflicting my opponents' minds. This requires me to be very skilled in mental sharpness, or Instinct. However, my own mind will sometimes warp, and I might go insane, lose control of my emotions, or if I truly succumb to it, sacrifice my own teammates." At that statement, Naruto gulped. 'Never piss off Sonny.' "But don't worry. I'm in control. Now, you are a type called a Hydraulic. Your kind specialize in the manipulation of water and ice, but you also have a wide variety of close combat skills as well. Plus, you have the ability to heal and aid allies, so you have quite a few paths to choose." At this news, Naruto got excited. So many possibilities at his disposal. But before he could exclaim how strong he was going to be, Sonny burst his bubble. "The problem is, however, you need to train in all four categories to fully utilize your potential. And to be honest, you're not very bright." At first, Naruto's hopes shattered when he realized he needed to improve his Instinct. And by Instinct, he meant intelligence. Instantly, a lightbulb (a physical one. He's in his mindscape, DUH) lit up above his head.

"WAIT! I know how I can improve my Instinct. But to show you, I have to be conscious. Can you wake me up?" Sonny nodded, and with a wave of his hand, both zombies were gone, leaving a still lonely Kyuubi.

"…**I still need a hug…"**

* * *

><p>(Outside Naruto's Mindscape)<p>

Outside, Veradux was asleep in a folding chair, his helmet hiding the slight drool dripping out of his mouth. A foot firmly planted itself on the medic's chest, and with a slight push, the man fell on his back with a thud.

"GUH!"

Instantly Veradux bounced back up, medic rifle raised and loaded, waiting to fry whoever pushed him with an insanely high voltage of electricity. What greeted him was a smirk on Sonny's scarred face, his arms crossed.

"Have a nice nap, Sleeping Beauty?" Sonny asked, his smug look barely hidden from view.

"Shut up Sonny." Veradux retorted. "You've been in that kid's head for so long I got bored. We seriously need something to keep s entertained whenever we go somewhere."

"Whatever." Sonny turned back to the Naruto, who sat up against a tree nearby. "Ok, so what's your solution to your problem Naruto?"

Naruto put his hands in an all-too-familiar hand sign. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" In a puff of smoke, a duplicate of Naruto was standing up, looking healthy and normal as he used to be. Sonny, however, was confused.

"Wait, how does a copy help you at all?" Sonny asked.

"Take him someplace where I can't hear you, tell it something, and then punch it in the face."

"…You want me to punch your doppelganger in the face?"

"Yeah! And then come back."

"…Ok…" And so Sonny took clone Naruto about thirty feet away and whispered in its ear before giving it a good right hook to the jaw, dispelling it in smoke. The green man then walked back to the pair of undead. "Now what?" Naruto's eyes closed for a second before he responded.

"You told me that Veradux is an idiot and a… 'useless wanker.' Hey, what's a wanker?" Naruto asked. Veradux, however, was not paying attention to the boy.

"You fucking asshole! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fry yo' ass right now!" The enraged Combat Medic roared, pointing his rifle at his friend.

"Hey, I didn't know that his clones transferred knowledge back to him, let alone recite it!" Sonny yelled defensively, waving his hands in front of him. Veradux slowly lowered his rifle, settling on glaring at Sonny through his helmet.

"Bitch…" he mumbled. Sonny just gave a simple "Oh shut up" before turning back to Naruto.

"So, using those clones, you can study something, dispel the clone, and learn whatever it learned?" Naruto nodded earnestly.

"Yeah! It also applies when I try to master a technique. And I can make a bunch!"

"How many?"

"Eh, a little over 200. Why?"

"…"

"Sonny?"

"Well, uh…didn't see that coming. Whatever, this just means your training is going to be so much easier for everyone. And when we're done with you, you're going to change everything." Naruto was excited, yet he couldn't shake off the feeling that he might regret this.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: FINALLY! I've been trying to get this out for awhile before it went away. This is the longest I've ever written in my entire life. And depending on my muse and free time, I may only be able to write something this long one or two more times. Anyway, Sonny's meeting with Tsunade is next, along with Naruto's training. Just to note, Team Sonny will not be all of Naruto's teachers. I do have some ideas for some other people, but only time will tell. Also, I just might hint at the antagonist next chapter. *GASP!* However, due to high school, upcoming semester finals, and my upcoming black belt test (which I will most likely fail), I won't be able to update until the end of December at the latest. Sorry. I had no clue how to do the interaction between Roald and Tsunade, so I played it by ear. Anyway, review about Sonny's flashback. I thought pretty hard on that piece and I hope it's alright.<p>

Until next time,

Renchard19 out.


	5. Chapter 5

Not Even Death Will Keep Me Down

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise or Sonny. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto whilst Sonny belongs to Jakrin. If you don't know what Sonny is, check it out. It's a fun game, especially the second one.

"I'm dead?" – Person speaking

_'Why does he look like that?'_ – Person thinking

**"Shut up while I think"** – Demon speaking

_**'Soon, his power will be mine'**_ – Demon thinking

**Retrograde** – Jutsu/technique

Flashback – Flashback

AN: Sorry about the lack of updates. Normally this is where I whine and make excuses, but I'll spare you the time by saying that my delays are due to a lack of muse and my lazy nature. Here's chapter five. Enjoy. Or not. Either is fine.

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

Recap: _"Well, uh…didn't see that coming. Whatever, this just means your training is going to be so much easier for everyone. And when we're done with you, you're going to change everything." Naruto was excited, yet he couldn't shake off the feeling that he might regret this._

Present: Konoha - West Gate

Roald paced back and forth, wishing to Krin that the blonde chick and her two cronies would show up soon. Just standing in this village was making him antsy. Having knowledge of the cruelty of Konoha's general populace made Roald want to commit some...less than savory acts. Maybe blow up an area in the clan district or set the markets ablaze. Getting odd looks from the villagers for his dress and accent didn't help one bit. Oh how he wished he had his rifle right now! With his baby by his side, along with a few incendiary grenades, Roald was confident he could put a new spin to the name "The Land of Fire."

_'Hehe, fire. I made a funny._'

Lame jokes aside, Roald glanced back at his watch again. Like most of his gear, it was an old surplus army model meant for the average grunt. The matte black paint job was showing signs of extreme wear and tear, with scratches marking the metal band and glass face. The secondhand was missing, broke after the first few months of ownership, and the watch itself was always minutes behind, past water damage taking its toll on the mechanics inside. Roald contemplated getting a new one, maybe something more useful.

_'Maybe one of those newer tactical watches with a bunch of buttons and functions that has nothing to do with survival...'_ Yes, very useful indeed.

_'Nah, I'll settle for a Rolex,'_ the scienterrorist (terrible nickname, I know) thought to himself. As he turned back to the village center, he saw Tsunade walking towards the gate, with who appeared to be a man with an absurdly large mane of grey hair and red streak marks under his eyes. He looked old, but Roald could feel power radiating off of him, although it wasn't enough to scare the scientist very much. Considering that the scientist killed a seemingly godlike sentient zombie with a penchant for the melodramatic, survived a random encounter with a homeless man who literally REEKED of death (or alcohol, same difference) on a ghost train, survived a crash of said train, and overthrew a corrupt government leader in one of the biggest revolutions in history, this wasn't much of a surprise. Not wanting to appear rude or lazy, Roald met the two people halfway in the street.

"So you're just bringing one person? I was hoping there would be more support for the kid."

Tsunade simply scoffed at the man who had claimed to know about Naruto's fate. While she wasn't wary of the alien and unfamiliarity of the man, she was willing to follow the only lead she had until the end. She just hoped that things wouldn't get messy, as she had already gone through too much in such short time.

"The other one will be here soon, and for your information, Naruto does have more friends than you think. I just went with people who are shinobi. Frankly, I don't trust you, and if you are lying to me, I. Will. Kill. You," Tsunade threatened, her left hand grasping Roald collar, the other reared back for a mean right punch as the blonde began unconsciously leaking Killing Intent in waves. Villagers passing by the three either fled in fear or passed out entirely, but Roald remained unfazed. While he had to give credit to this strong female figure, she had nothing on the Baron, who simply OOZED with so much malevolence; he had puked after dealing with the accursed sentient with a god-complex. The unknowing followers of the Baron were not pleased being the targets of Roald's lunch that day.

"Who are you?" Roald asked the odd man with the absurdly long hair. The man put his index finger to his chin in a thinking pose, looking as though he was weighing his options before shrugging and setting a large grin on his face. All of a sudden, he began doing a...dance, if it could be called that and made his intro.

"Why, I am the man famous through out the world! I fight for justice and peace for all! Men bow down in worship and awe, women swoon at the mere mention of my name! I am the one and only, the Toad Sage of Konoha, the mighty Jiraiya the Galliant!"

"Never heard of you." *Crash* The man now identified as Jiraiya face-faulted before holding the strange foreigner by the collar and shaking him back and forth.

"How have you not heard of me?! Do you not know of the great Toad Sage, the one who taught the renowned Yondaime Hokage and one of the Three Sannin?!" "Yon-who?" was the casual response sent by Roald and he threw off Jiraiya's hands and fixed his shirt. Jiraiya simply face-faulted again at the man who had no idea how well-known he was in the Elemental Nations. Simply ignoring the Toad Sage, Roald opted to speak with Tsunade again.

"So, where's the other one?" The terrorist asked, hoping he could leave the village within the next five minutes, otherwise he might add "arson with extreme prejudice" to his list of crimes as a terrorist.

"Kakashi will be here soon, so just wait," Tsunade huffed at the man, who simply rolled his eyes and looked back at the village. Within a few minutes, a tall man with grey gravity-defying hair, a face mask, and a forehead protector covering one of his eyes appeared in a plume of smoke and leaves before roughly grabbing Roald by the shoulders and shaking the man back and forth like a certain someone mere minutes ago.

"You know where Naruto is? Where is he? Is he alright? What are you doing with him? If he's hurt, you're going to-" Kakashi blurted out before being backhanded by the terrorist with the bad watch, who once again fixed his shirt.

"What the hell is up with you people and manhandling me? And in the order you asked me: yes, I'll show you, I have no clue, and whatever Sonny's doing back at camp, I'm sure it isn't harming the boy," Roald said as he fixed his collar, which was beginning to fall off due to being nearly ripped off nearly three times within the last ten minutes. "As your leader probably told you, I'm taking you to him so shut up and let's get moving. I don't wanna be in this village anymore than I have to." And without room for argument, Roald marched back to camp with the three shinobi in tow. Mentally cursing himself for allowing the blond buxom lady to bring company, the man hoped he wouldn't have to deal with any more problems; otherwise someone might ACCIDENTALLY take a knife to the face. Unfortunately, Krin decided to be a jerk, so Roald wouldn't get the break he was looking for.

_"Roald, you there? I need another favor."_

* * *

><p>Five minutes earlier: Clearing near Sonny's Camp<p>

Naruto was amazed. Scratch that, he was awestruck. The things Sonny told him he was capable of doing, all the stuff he and his friends could do, all the cool technology Sonny showed him, the awesome adventures Sonny went through, Naruto wanted to know more about it all. Especially the cool glowing armor Veradux had on. Sure it wasn't orange, but it GLOWS! How cooler could gear like that get?

"-ruto! Naruto! Come on kid, don't blank out on me now," Sonny said as he snapped his fingers in front of Naruto's face, trying to get the boy's head out of the clouds. Naruto shook his head before looking back up at the sentient.

"Sorry, what was that?" Sonny simply sighed before continuing his talk with the boy.

"I'm going to teach you how to access your Focus, the energy used for skills and techniques. Now, Focus is much different from chakra in that it is a representation of your mental sharpness. If you use too much, you lose...well, focus. You'll have trouble concentrating, your mind will process information and react to situations much slower, your judgment is impaired, and you might make decisions you wouldn't normally make." This information made Naruto pause in thought. Focus has those kinds of drawbacks? Sure, they weren't as deadly as say chakra exhaustion, but not being full aware, especially in combat, can have dire consequences themselves. Sonny merely continued his lecture while noting the young boy's expression change.

"One can still fight at about seventy-five percent combat effectiveness whit no focus, however, and over time, one can even negate these drawbacks through training, usually something mentally stimulating, like chess or sudoku." At this Naruto gave a sigh of relief, although he was bummed that he had to play games for smart people in order to overcome the problems with Focus. "Now," Sonny continued, "to access your Focus is pretty easy. Hell, I accessed mine in my very first fight." Once again, Naruto was astounded. It was that easy? Heck if Sonny could do it, why couldn't he? The blonde couldn't wait to learn some cool new skills to show everybody. Unbeknownst to him, a cruel little idea popped in Sonny's head, a side effect of being a Psychological. 'I can test his abilities in combat while gauging Focus usage,' the sentient thought to himself.

"In fact, why don't we do that? A little scuffle, you and me?" Sonny said calmly, yet Naruto could not see the sadistic glint in his eyes since his back was towards the boy.

"Now we're talking! Will you show me some cool moves, Sonny-sensei?" Naruto asked eagerly, jumping up and down as he was finally going to see how strong his new friend was. Oh how screwed out hero is.

"Sure. How about this one? **VOID!**" Sonny screamed as a sickeningly purple orb surrounded by violet streaks of lightning flew from his hand at insane speeds toward Naruto, barely missing by mere centimeters as a part of his jumpsuit began to disintegrate while continuing its path and into a tree.

"What the hell, Sonny-sensei?! Are you trying to kill me?!" Naruto shouted at the now insane man as he looked behind him. What he saw next both amazed and terrified him. The tree that was hit was a sickly purple-black color, quickly shriveling up and dying right before his eyes. The blonde turned back to Sonny, whose hands glowed the same color as the tree.

"As you can see, **Void**causes what I call Shadow damage over time, similar to how a person is affected by poison or being set on fire. A very painful technique in my opinion," Sonny said as he balled his hands into fists. Naruto quickly got back up and settled into a sloppy stance, awaiting Sonny's next move. The blonde's opponent noted how poor the stance was and filed it away for a visit he was going to make later.

"Alright then. I'm coming to get you. I suggest you start using that Focus of yours, otherwise...well, this is going to hurt you more than it will hurt me." And with his point made, Sonny dashed towards his target, who still had no clue what to do.

'CRAAAAAAP! WhatdoidowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo?!' Naruto mentally screamed. 'He hasn't told me anything about actually using Focus, so how does he expect me to fight him?' As Sonny approached Naruto at incredible speeds, something in the boy's head merely went on. Instinctively, the lad brought his hands up into a guard and a red circle surrounded him before fading.

'Wait, what did I just do?' Naruto asked himself before taking a straight right punch from Sonny and tumbling into the dirt. Sonny, however, was inwardly smiling at how well Naruto did, all things considered.

'He subconsciously used Suppression to lessen the force of my attack. Had he simply taken it, he would have flown across the clearing. Plus, he isn't finished recovering, so being able to take a hit like that is fortunate for him.'

Sonny shoved his hands into his pockets as he casually strolled towards Naruto while whistling a catchy tune to himself. Once Naruto picked himself up off the ground, Sonny congratulated him with a pat on the back.

"Good. You managed to use your Focus to lessen the damage taken from my strike. Good job!" But Naruto wasn't thrown off by Sonny's remarks. Sure the praise was nice, but this stunt he just pulled was insane. Naruto pointed a shaky finger at Sonny while slowly backing away.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOUR TRYING TO DO?! KILL ME?!" The boy shouted at the sentient. Sonny merely shrugged, "Hey, I got you to use your Focus now, didn't I?" Naruto was not deterred, however, opting to point at Sonny.

"I COULD HAVE DIED!"

"No you wouldn't. I was holding back, plus Veradux could fix you up in a jiffy if you couldn't take the Shadow damage, so stop yelling. You're disturbing the wildlife." Sonny retorted, crossing his arms and staring at Naruto with a bored expression.

'You just brutally killed a tree, and you're saying I'm disturbing the wildlife?' The blonde thought to himself. But before Naruto could argue Sonny continued.

"Now that you have access to your Focus, we can work on your specific abilities." At this, Naruto completely forgot what had just occurred in the last minute and jumped up and down again.

"OH YEAH! I'M GONNA LEARN SOME KICK-ASS MOVES!" Sonny merely chuckled at the young boy's antics, finding it a nice change from Roald's crappy jokes and Felicity's constant teasing.

"Go on back to camp," Sonny said. "Veradux can help you get started on teaching you some healing techniques. And don't-" Naruto was gone before Sonny could warn him about the guns. Oh well. Veradux would probably keep him out of trouble. Now he had a call to make. Reaching towards the radio piece on the side of his helmet,

"Roald, you there? I need another favor."

* * *

><p>Present: Right after call between Roald and Sonny began, right outside Konoha<p>

"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Roald's shout startled the three shinobi trailing him, confused by what they were seeing. Their guide, who was talking through a small headset, seemed to be screaming to the heavens about something that didn't sit well with him. The group merely assumed that he was contacting his associate, but from the sounds of the strange man's curses to this "Krin" being, it sound more like banter between a boss and one of his lowly subordinates. "What in Kami's name did we get ourselves into?" was the common thought amongst the three ninja.

"First you want me to be your messenger boy, now you want me playing private tutor for some kid who's head is thicker than steel?! What am I, your manservant?" Roald shouted into his earpiece. Krin how he hated when people dropped work on him like this! Roald wondered when he was ever going to get a break.

_"I can teach him about his abilities and using Focus, but he won't be able to truly grow in skill if he doesn't get a proper education. Without mental acuteness, he might as well be trying to freeze vodka. I need you to teach him, get his intelligence to the proper level. A kid can only learn so much just by reading books. Without someone to guide him, he's gonna confuse himself in all the information he's absorbing,"_ Sonny said into the radio. _"Besides, you're a scientist, so that makes you the smartest one out of all of us, and thus the most qualified."_ Roald merely sighed before finally responding, albeit resentfully.

"Okay, I'll do it." _"Thank you so mu-"_

"But on one condition," the man interrupted, wanting what was coming next.

"_What_?" Sonny asked, unsure of how to respond if his friend asks for something absurd again.

"I want you to repeat what you just said."

"_What? 'You're the most qualified?'_ "

"No. The part right before that."

"_That yo- …really?"_

"Yes. Really."

_"...You're serious_."

"Do I sound like I'm joking?"

_" *Sigh* Do I really have to?"_

"Only if you want me to teach the kid."

_" *sigh* Fine. *Flatly* 'You're the smartest one out of all of us.' "_

"Damn right I am."

_"...Happy now?"_

"Yes. Anyway, I'm on my way back, along with some of the kid's friends."

"_You sure you can trust them?"_ Sonny asked with a hesitant tone. Bringing unfamiliar people to a sentient zombie usually resulted in being attacked and/or mistaken for a monster, and Sonny did NOT want to deal with that. Krin knows what happened the last time he got too involved in an entire city's problems.

"Somewhat. Should I tell them what happened?" Roald asked, his moment of stroking his ego now over.

_"No. It'll be much better if Naruto and I explain the situation ourselves."_ The leader of the group told the terrorist/ scientist man.

"Wait, the kid's already up and about? But I thought that he-"

_"His regenerative abilities from the fox are being bolstered by Veradux. He'll be ready for some physical training in a matter of days."_

"Alright. Roald out." And with that, the conversation ended. Roald turned to the other three people, who were staring at him, confusion clear on their expressions.

"First, I was talking to my associate who is currently taking care of Naruto Uzumaki. He says that the boy is recovering fine with the help of our group's medic and will be ready for active duty in a few days. The three shinobi all were relieved by the news, but were still wary of how this foreigner was talking to a person who seemed to sound slightly over-authoritative. However, Roald was already quite annoyed by today's events and continued on, his entourage not far behind.

* * *

><p>Present: Sonny's Camp<p>

"What are ya gonna teach me first, huh Veradux-sensei? Whatwhatwhat?"

Veradux was totally confused. One minute he was finishing up on cleaning the mess Sonny made yesterday, the next minute he's lying on his back with a blonde kid jumping up and down after tackling him and asking him stuff? And to make matters worse, the blonde got some of his blood from his wounds all over Veradux's chestplate. Where the hell was Sonny?

"Whoa slow down there kid! Now I thought you were talking with Sonny. What happened?" the medic asked.

"Sonny-sensei got me to use Focus for the first time and told me that you can teach me some cool stuff!" Naruto gleefully replied, while Veradux was inwardly seething.

'I'm gonna kill that bastard for droppin' this on me,' he thought sourly before looking back at the kid in front of him.

"Ok, I'll teach you some healing skills, but just calm down." At this Naruto's shoulders slumped, hearing that he was only learning medical abilities.

"But what about all those super-cool attacks you guys can do?" he asked, looking down at the ground in sadness, which threw Veradux into panic mode.

'Crap! I thought I told Sonny I'm bad with kids!' the dark-skinned sentient thought to himself. "Hey hey, cool it kid. Once you get better then I'll teach you some tricks, a'ight?"

Naruto's head perked up, but instead of a look of gratefulness, he had a look of confusion on his round face.

"What are you talking about sensei? I feel fine."

Veradux deadpanned. "Oh really? Then how do you explain all that blood?"

Naruto looked down, and sure enough, the bandages on the entire front of his torso was stained in crimson. Red with embarrassment, Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Veradux shook his head at how oblivious the kid was when it came to important stuff like this.

"Alright, lemme change your bandages. Better to be clean than comfortable." Nodding, Naruto took off his jacket as Veradux began to slowly unwrap the bandages, careful not to reopen the blonde's wounds. But what he saw stunned him quite a bit.

'What the hell? His wounds are almost entirely healed? But he was bleedin' all over the damn place a few seconds ago. I know this kid's got regen traits from the fox, but he wasn't healing this quickly earlier! And there's no way any Hydraulic could heal this quickly. Maybe a combination of both? I need some answers, and the fox seems like the only source.' Veradux thought.

"Hey Naruto," he began.

"Yeah Veradux-sensei?"

"Ok, first of all, don't 'sensei' me. That has all that formal crap I hate hearing. Second, have you talked with the fox any?"

Naruto wasn't sure where this was going, but answered honestly.

"Well, a little bit. But all I got out of her was how she wasn't entirely at fault for attacking my village. Why?"

Veradux scratched the back of his head as he tried to explain what was happening to the kid's body.

"Well, you're healin' quickly, which is good. What I see is that you're healin' WAY faster than either Sonny or I expected. I'm not quite sure about this, but I have an idea. But I need you to ask the fox about your abilities while she's in you're gut. Can you do that for me kid?'

Naruto nodded, "Sure, but how do I get back to my mindscape? I'm not tired."

Veradux grinned evilly while Naruto wasn't looking, planning on having payback for tackling him earlier. Oh how Naruto was screwed.

"Hey, you wanna see a sweet move?"

Naruto had stars in his eyes as he jumped up and down in excitement. Oh how Veradux was gonna enjoy this...

"YEAH!"

"Alright, you see that tree behind you?" Veradux pointed at a big, sturdy tree a good fifty feet away from the pair. Naruto nodded rapidly, and if Veradux didn't know better, he might've thought the boy's head was gonna fall off from how forceful the nods were.

"Face that direction, and just watch what happens." Naruto quickly turned around in excitement, not seeing the medic quietly pull Sonny's pipe from his pack and slowly walk towards the blond.

"You ready Naruto?"

"Hell yeah I'm ready! I can't wait to see what yo-"

Darkness quickly took hold of poor Naruto as Veradux clubbed him over the head, but not before hearing the medic say:

"That's. For. The suit."

Naruto's Mindscape

Waking with a groan, Naruto found himself once again in the dark blue room with the blue screens and weird lines. Picking himself up off the floor, the jinchuuriki dusted himself off.

"Aw man. Why did Veradux-teme have to hit me so hard?" Naruto whined. "Ah well. Might as well talk to Kyuubi while I'm here. Kyuubi?" he shouted, getting a squeak in response. The boy turned in the direction of said squeak and found the fox girl once again sitting in the corner. She was dressed the same as before, hugging her legs as her tails were curled up, the two small fox ears atop her head flat against her scalp. She looked at Naruto with apprehension as he slowly approached.

"Hey," he said in a soft tone, "uhm...are you okay?" he asked with a worried look. Every step he made towards Kyuubi, she seemed to squirm under his gaze, as though he would suddenly strike her out of the blue. Naruto simply held out his hands to his sides, showing that he didn't want to hurt her.

"I just wanna talk. Is that okay Kyuu? Can I call you that?" He asked her. Feeling a little heat on her cheeks after hearing him called her that again, Kyuubi slowly let down her guard, her tails swishing to the side and laying on the floor. Kyuubi, however, continued to hug her legs even tighter as her head seemed to sink behind her knees. Naruto continued to walk lightly towards her, until he was right in front of her face.

"Are you ok Kyuu?"

Kyuubi simply tore her eyes away from those bright blue orbs which were the boy's eyes and glanced around. Anything but his eyes were what she was looking for. How could she even look at him when she was the cause for so much of his suffering?

"If you still think I hate you for everything that's happened to me, you're wrong. I thought we went over this already." Kyuubi's eyes widened to saucer-like proportions. He DIDN'T hate her? But what about all the abuse, all the hate from the villagers? Wasn't that all her fault?

"Come on Kyuu-chan, please talk to me..." the blonde jinchuuriki said softly as he sat down beside the girl who tried to shrink away, but he wouldn't have any of that. Without thinking, Naruto quickly took the redhead by the shoulders and brought her closer to him, their faces barely an inch away from each other. He opened his mouth, but quickly closed it again as he realized how close he was to her face. The pair quickly grew blushes that would make a tomato feel pathetic as they gazed into each other's eyes, there breathing becoming ragged and deeper, both unsure of what to do next. Both took a good look at the other, taking in everything they could see. Naruto found himself examining Kyuubi's full appearance and couldn't help but admit that she was probably the most beautiful girl he's ever seen, way more beautiful than Sakura. Her round red eyes held him under a trance like nothing he ever experienced before. Her red hair gleamed in the dark and dreary room, and the two fox ears just made her all that much cuter. Her skin had gained back some of its color, and her lips looked so soft. So soft, he could just...just...

'Oh Kami, what in the world am I thinking?! She doesn't see me that way, heck, I barely know her! It wouldn't be right! Besides I like Sakura!' Naruto thought. Yet at the same time, the blonde sentient couldn't help but compare the two girls he knew and it was plain as day: that pink-haired freak had nothing on Kyuubi. Meanwhile, Kyuubi was just as flustered, if not more, than Naruto, having never taken a look at him this up close. His bright blonde hair reminded her of the warmth of the sun she used to feel when she was free, his electric blue eyes mesmerized her as they seemingly stared into her soul. The whisker marks she saw on his face gave him a cute yet feral look to him, practically making his appearance scream "CUDDLE ME!" Oh how she wanted to pet those whiskers, and his cute little face...

'NOOO! BAD KYUU! If you do that, he might take it the wrong way and hit you! Stop it! Stop thinking about those whiskers...those cute little whisk-NO! NONONONONO! Bad Bad BAD!...But they look so CUTE...maybe just once...' Hesitantly, Kyuubi brought a hand up to Naruto's face, unaware of what her body was doing. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your point-of-view, neither did Naruto, and before he knew it, soft fingers began caressing his cheeks and a nice little tingle went down his body. The blonde boy closed his eyes and purred, much to the (inward) glee of Kyuubi, who continued her ministrations of the boy's whisker marks. Naruto, succumbing to her gentle touch, nuzzled his head into her hands, as though thinking that would make it feel even better. His ever-growing-louder purrs told Kyuubi to continue, and for Kami knows how long, the two continued their self-indulging, completely ignorant of the awkwardness of their situation minutes before. Eventually, the pleasure high wore off, and the two once returned to staring in each other's eyes.

Too bad they failed to notice how their positions changed until now. Instead of Kyuubi sitting and hugging her knees while Naruto was on his knees trying to get her to face him, the boy was now lying on the floor with the back of his head in the fox girl's lap, her ruby red eyes looking down into his electric blue orbs. Had their relationship been better, this would've been such a sweet moment. Too bad…

"KYAAAA!"

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><p>AN: Yeah. I'm cutting it here. Need to get my muse back. Sorry if it's not up to normal quality, and updates will be VERY sporatic, if you haven't noticed. Again, sorry about that.


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